Madrid, Madrid, Madrid

Today I’m going to be talking about my experience in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

Firstly, I’m sorry to say, to the huge displeasure of all Madrid fans out there, but I don't like the Spanish capital at all. I found it noisy, uncomfortable, fairly ugly and very overwhelming. So once again, sorry to all you capital fanatics, but I do not like Madrid.

I have been 3 times already. The first two visits were brief as I watched the recording of Aída and afterwards of ‘Tonterías Las Justas’. When I saw Aída we did have a bit of time to enjoy the city, but as for the second time, I simply can’t remember. I’m not a massive fan of either show to be honest.

The third time I went, it was Noche Vieja 2012 and me and some friends rented a small apartment in Carabanchel so that we could, like anyone should at least once in their lifetime, go the the Puerta del Sol and have our own Twelve Grapes.

We were able to visit the whole city within three days, going to the most important places and seeing the main monuments in the city centre. I will talk about what we did in a rather confused fashion as I can’t quite remember which order we did everything in. But, oh well, no matter which way round I tell it, what we did is the same.

The first day we visited La Plaza de España and El Templo de Debod, as from here you can take some really nice photos of the city. The Royal Palace, for example, being one of the many things you can see. It was a temple, El Templo de Debod, that the Egyptians gave to Spain. They had already given us money, but who cares, haha. At Christmas, La Plaza de España was full of little stalls as they put on a sort of Christmas market around this time. If you can, visit La Estatua de Don Quijote as it is typical of the city and very cool in general. During my first visit to Madrid we took a lot of photos, with Quijote’s statue, and all the other things you can find here. It was a good laugh. The square is also surrounded by loads of old and symbolic buildings of the city.

We went for a walk down La Gran Vía, a very busy street full of shops. Of course, we spent day and night in La Puerta del Sol, which for the clueless ones among you, is where you'll find La Estatua del Oso y El Madroño: a statue cast in bronze and sitting on top of a stone pedestal that, for some reason or another, was moved somewhere else whilst the place underwent some minor works. The bear (oso), of course, has been used in Madrid’s coat of arms since the 13th century as they used to populate the areas surrounding the capital.

You can also go and see the famous Kilómetro O, a plaque signalling the starting point for all Spanish motorways that was renovated a few years ago. However, it isn't as cool as it used to be, as before it marked the six different radial roads, whereas now it just signals the East and West.

As for the bell ringing, well, it started raining and none of us had umbrellas… but that’s a story for another time.

We went to the Museo de El Padro, which according to many is the best museum in Europe, but for others (I’m pretty sure the French fall into this category XD) it is not. Nevertheless, the same thing happened that happens to me in every museum I visit... I see a whole bunch of paintings and don’t understand any of them. I did however recognise the painting ‘Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos’ and knew that it was Goya who painted it, all thanks to a school history book I remembered.

We visited the wonderful Plaza Mayor that at Christmas too had a little market with stalls selling Christmas gifts and souvenirs. As you can see from the photos, it was a very pretty set up. La Plaza Mayor has a never-ending history: it was first used as a place for commerce (like all squares of its kind really), it has caught fire all of three times, even though apparently each time this happens it rises from the ashes as an even more beautiful version of its previous self. The 60s was when it started to become more for pedestrian use, typified by public parking installed beneath it. One of the decorative murals was painted in the 90s and depicts many mythical Gods (I don’t know what they have to do with the square but I know it's even more confusing when considering its place in front of the statue of Felipe III riding a horse).

We paid a visit to La Catedral de la Almudena (I say paid, we got in for free, yet the same can’t be said for most cathedrals around Europe, which for me is something I really can't get my head around... paying to go inside a church?!). But anyway, this Cathedral is where the Princes get married, for all those interested in that sort of thing. I remember it being high, but in terms of Cathedrals, well, let’s just say I think the one in Durham is taller. Something I’ll talk about another time.

We visited the El Palacio Real, but only saw it from the outside, and again for those who know absolutely nothing about the city, the royalty do not actually reside there, they live in La Zarzuela instead. From the outside it is stunning, so I can’t imagine how amazing it is on the inside, or as my mum would say, “horrible for those who have to clean it!”, and I’d have to agree given the size of the place (especially when I find it hard enough to clean our little 90 square metre apartment, XD). Something we did manage to go and see properly were the Palace Gardens, just in front of and a bit below the actual building. They are very beautiful, but we couldn't see as much as we would've liked as we went to see them at night.

[Above you can see a monkey and an elephant next to me and Elvi, as well as Cibeles in the background. The fountain of the Goddess. It was our beloved Carlos III that was driven to reform the city, and influenced by the European trends he paved the roads and installed streetlights, as well as building large fountains like the one of Cibeles you can see here.]

It’s strange as when the Princes got married, they took the tram that went from La Almudena to the Royal Palace... they are basically right next to each other!

Of course we visited El Retiro. Passing through La Puerta de Alcalá, just as the song goes "Carlos III se quitó el sombrero y le dijo a su caballo 'ahí está, la Puerta de Alcalá'" as it was him who ordered it to be built as an entrance to the people that came from Aragón. So, what’s there to see? Well, given that El Retiro covers almost 120 hectares of land, there are a lot things you can go and see: the lake where you can rent a little boat and row among the ducks, various fountains and statues, the other entrances and the Crystal Palace, which is really quite stunning. It was made at the end of the 19th century to be a Spanish version of the English greenhouses (which you do well, and us, well...). Nowadays it is used for exhibitions, and of course a perfect spot for couples to take romantic pictures in front of.

In this post I have more or less summed up everything I did in Madrid, and as always I could always tell you more but I don’t want to bore you all with thousands of stories. If I come back to it and realise I left something out, I’ll be sure to put it in.

Have a great night my fellow Erasmus and a Happy Monday to you all!